Fading Batteries and their Effects

Trying to figure out whether my leisure batteries are on the way out or whether or not what I'm seeing is normal behaviour.

I have 2 of these calcium batteries which at a best guess have been in the vehicle since 2016 (have a Dutch receipt showing a huge amount of work at this time and batteries are mentioned):

https://katalog.zap.pl/akumulator-energy-plus-960-07-prid144

I don't charge the batteries from mains and am dependent on driving but I do use it a lot. The pattern of usage is drive somewhere that's usually 10-15 minutes in the morning, work from the camper (use it as an office) and then drive back in the afternoon or early evening. I also use it for short local runs some evenings and most weekends it will get a longer run of an hour or so.

I've seen people on here say they don't let the voltage reading go below 12V but if i did that I would be switching everything off pretty quick and it wouldn't work as a mobile office. The main draws on power are the Truma C3402 heater and a Victron 500A inverter which powers a monitor and macbook. Apart from that it's only occasional pump use when filling a kettle etc, I don't tend to switch on the fridge this time of year which also works of the batteries.

The Truma uses gas but there would be a draw on the batteries for fans. Twice recently the Truma just hasn't gone on. I turned the thermostat right up and nothing happened. I switched it off and on again and the red and green leds in:

https://motor-roam.co.uk/wp-co…067324.jpg

flickered once on and off quickly. Nothing else happened, no sound, tried a few times. Drove back home and it worked again but after it was on for a while in the driveway the same thing happened. It worked fine the following day and has continued since then.

I strongly suspect this truma refusal to start was linked to the battery voltage which I think was reading in the 11.5-11.8 range around that time. Another time when it was on the fans sounded weak and again I suspect this could be a battery issue.

Does this sound plausible or is there something else I'm missing that you can think of ?

The thing with the voltage reading is that even after a short drive it goes back over 12V so when you start it's not much of an indicator how much change is left in them.

I've never that problems with the inverter equipment but I suspect the battery would need to go down a long way before I would start seeing issues here.

How long do batteries generally last or is that a how long is a piece of string question ?

And with healthy batteries how much recharging would you expect with 15 minutes of driving ?

And finally do these batteries sound like they are on their way out or would this be fairly normal behaviour ?

B2B
Proper solar
EHU when parked up
Good quality batteries
Everything LED and as efficient as possible
Proper battery monitor

As Norman said, 7 year old batteries are near end of life. I got 5 years from mine which get what I consider heavy usage and I consider that very acceptable. I’ve all the items as listed above.

Whats B2B ?

Battery monitor ? Something like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Batte…hdGY&psc=1 ?

Would this give more useful info than the existing control panel which displays the current voltage and drawn amps ?

Can anyone advise based on experience how well driving charges healthy leisure batteries. For example should an hours drive fully charge the batteries ?

I hadn't seriously considered solar. During the summer I wasn't using the heater so the draw was very low. In the winter when it would be really needed there is less sun about...

Checked the 2016 work again and it looks like it was the engine starter battery (accu start batterijn) that was replaced, so actually I've no idea how old they are...

7 years leisure battery you've done well

Have bought one, not fitted it yet ,11.5 kg compared to 48 kg of the 2 lead's I have now, fitting it early next week

I believe it’s an alternative (upgrade) to the standard split charge relay that’s usually fitted as standard

a solar panel of 100W+ with an mppt controller, a new battery and a split charge relay will do the job for you. The B2B will not be needed on a 1998 van as it wont have a 'smart alternator'. Your batteries are most likely knackered and are not getting anywhere near fully charged. They will indeed still register a decent voltage probaly after a drive, but the fact that they are not holding the charge means then are most likely toast. About 450 euro should buy the components id say and its all an easy \diy fit.

all sounds fine...but thay are multiple times he price. Ive had an M power VSR for £40 fitted for 4 years with no issues. I havent needed EHU since 2019 and that even using a 240v fridge via inverter. Also allows my solar to feed back excess to starter...i was suggesting to the OP a cost effective method...

Sterling products are a good bit if kit too Colin. Kevin has rightly stated there are other products that offer a more cost effective solution. Any B2B will assist with battery charging/maintenance and offer greater performance over a standard system.

That I don't know. I've only had it 6 months, the owner before had it from Mar 2021 and he certainly didn't replace them. I now think the battery change in 2016 on the works receipt was the main vehicle starter battery. So that's 2+ years with the plus likely being a fair bit more as I couldn't imagine the Dutch seller replacing them in the months before the sale.

I like Martin's (? sprinter's) idea of fitting an outside socket. Seems the most hassle free option for now and can be used for other things too.

The batteries are calcium, anyone know anything about this type of battery, haven't seen it mentioned on this forum, the chat has been about lead and lithium from what I see.

I know I'm being like a dog with a bone here but still trying to get a feel for how well a healthy battery recharges with an hours drive ? Surely somebody must have a feel for it.... I suspect that unlike most on here my electrical usage is light, the inverter is 500A and only used for computer equipment and apart from that the only other draw worth mentioning is whatever the Truma C3402 requires. If short drives do recharge them well then I may not need to look at anything else with my current usage pattern.

Where I'm coming from is that if I thought new batteries would charge well with an hours drive and I'd get a good run out of them using them as I do, I'd replace what I have. Otherwise I'l just run with what I have for a while and get an outside socket fitted.

Thanks, appreciate this answer. And it makes it clear to me that the next step in the diagnostics process should be to charge via the EHU every now and then (only used it once in the 6 months I've had the camper) and see how much I get out of them after. If it's quite good then all the more reason to get an outside socket. If it's poor than I guess I'll be looking at new batteries, don't want the faff of having to plug in every evening, emptying the toilet and refilling the water once a week is enough for me !

Would you know how long the EHU should generally be left in for to get a full charge ? The only indicators I have is a control panel voltage reading which I don't trust (given that it reads high after a short drive) or possibly the charging LED (the LED between B1 and B2 comes on when the engine us running) if it were to go off when the battery is fully charged (suspect it doesn't though...)

Hooked up the EHU this morning and a lot less faff than expected. Plugged in upstairs, dropped cable outside window and plugged into the camper.

And it looks as if there may be an indicator when the battery is fully charged. When I plugged in at first the red LED on the fuse panel below was lit and the green wasn't. And after 45 mins it was as shown



Will be keeping a close eye on voltage levels and how quickly it would appear to run down today.

Not sure how to determine the output voltage. The charging cable has 240V/16A written on it, there is no useful information on the charging socket on the camper and the control unit for switching on the EHU supply is as shown in the photo above.

Next time I charge I'll plug in for longer. This morning's was short but had no issues today.

Thanks Paul.

I presume it's the same Hankook that do tyres, if so it should do what it says on the tin. At the price it's definitely worth a punt.

Check out the thread on here about fitting lithium, it's a mine of good info and opinion.

A B2B is an excellent piece of kit for pumping in charge while the engine is running as it would have a proper multi stage changing algorithm, whereas as split charger is just a passive connection to the engine battery.

Thanks. Will check that link out. Went through

https://forum.motorhomeparking…hp?t=24684

in detail yesterday and found some good info and links in there also.

Dropped up and that Hankook battery is no longer an option. He had got about 6 in but they flew out within days and they can't source any more.

So it will be a 2 hours return journey to Halfords for me to pick up a pair of

https://www.halfords.ie/motori…82063.html

I'd prefer the sound of the class A ones but they don't seem to be in stock.

Lithium is something to look into but from the reading I've done so far if you're going to invest in them you should invest in the equipment around them too and that's involve time and knowledge on top of cash

https://www.halfords.ie/motori…82063.html

They're a good battery at a good price and there's 2 years guarantee with them, and of course if you can get the AXA discount on top all the better

In terms of getting rid of old batteries can I expect Halfords to take them ?

All going to plan I would hope to fit the new ones in their carpark

Even an insurance disc picture once it says axa on it they dont check it anyway,

Is there anyone in the family with a vehicle injured by AXA. Remember if using a brokerage check who they have gotten the policy from.

Old batteries are worth money, scrap yard may pay you for them, which would help towards cost of new ones